Lumber or other sawable material for use in the construction of buildings or for other purposes is typically delivered to the construction site in the form of long boards of standardized length. The structure typically requires large numbers of shorter board segments or blocks of some particular length. Short blocks of this kind are needed, for example, in the framing of floors and ceilings and for use as studs.
Sawing of boards into shorter blocks of a predetermined length is one of the major time consuming and cost generating operations at most construction sites. It has heretofore been assumed that the most efficient way to accomplish this operation is to make use of a powered radial arm saw which is brought to the site. A radial arm saw is large and heavy and thus transporting the saw to the site moving it about if necessary and then removing it from the site is itself a somewhat difficult operation. It is also stationary during use. Thus the boards which are to be cut must be carried to the location of the saw and the operator must repetitively shift a lengthy board into a new position on the saw between each cutting operation.
It would be advantageous if block cutting could be accomplished efficiently and with precision with a lighter, more portable hand held saw that can be easily carried to the site and which can be moved about as necessary instead of moving heavy boards to a fixed saw location. It would also be more efficient if the operator is not required to shift a heavy board between each cutting operation.
Substantial preliminary effort has heretofore been required to measure the length to which blocks are to be cut and then to set up the radial arm saw for cutting that particular length. Simplification of the set up procedures would also be advantageous.
The background of the invention has been discussed above with respect to problems encountered at building construction sites or the like. Similar problems are involved in various non-professional operations where boards are to be cut into shorter segments. Persons undertaking to make home repairs, for example, often need to cut boards into shorter lengths. Use of a measuring tape and then a carpenters square and pencil to draw cut lines and repetitive shifting and re-clamping of the board in a vise or the like is a slow and tedious operation. There is also usually an undesirable lack of precision in the length of blocks cut by such methods, particularly if a hand held saw is used.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems discussed above.